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Battle for our Birds

Introduction

Battle for our Birds is DOC's successful national predator control programme that protects our most vulnerable native species.

Highlights

The programme uses biodegradable 1080 applied by air over large areas of rugged terrain to knock down rats, stoats and possums. Trapping and other ground-based predator control methods also play an important part.

Battle for our Birds in 2017

Widespread forest seeding will again this year lead to an increase in rats and stoats, putting our endangered native wildlife at risk. Areas of greatest risk are concentrated in North Island forests with fewer South Island areas affected.

We are planning our Battle for our Birds predator control programme over about 800,000 ha of conservation land, aiming to protect our most at-risk populations of vulnerable native species. Our field staff and scientists will monitor predator levels to ensure predator control is targetted where it’s needed most.